So I made that Labubu post, and one response I've been seeing pop up now and again is "Well, the reason I don't like Labubus is that they encourage GAMBLING among children." To me this is like saying "Telling your 3 year old that Santa is bad because you are LYING and breaking their trust and they will never believe anything you say once they find out." You know, out of the billions of people on Planet Earth, there are probably instances where that is true. But I am not convinced that it is a widespread problem.
I am not fond of blind boxed toys myself, especially pricier ones. But I'm very very dubious that it's a widespread cause of gambling addictions, or is anything but an annoyance for most people. Labubu's "surprise" model is no different from baseball cards, Pokemon cards, Topps sticker packs, Puppy In My Pocket, blind bag MLPs or Littlest Pet Shop, or Puppy Surprise which had a random number of puppies. Yeah, every kid wanted to get a Puppy Surprise with five pups inside. But I don't think it led to an epidemic of people gambling their savings away.
Also, in my experience being burned by a disappointing toy can be a formative experience, the moment a child realizes they have to be wary about what companies promise and have some level of skepticism. Which is good in the long run.
For example, I was much more skeptical of commercials after the Pogoball that I BEGGED for, based on the high-energy ads, turned out to be kind of a lame toy.
